Tasks carried out by the coordinator, or main contact, may include:

Contacting individual households in the neighbourhood to determine the level of support for setting up a NW scheme

Where support is positive, arranging a meeting to discuss setting up a scheme

Setting up and maintaining a Neighbourhood Watch within a specific area

Communicating relevant crime and community safety information in the area

Communicating information from members to police or local authority

Acting as a link between the scheme members, other co-ordinators, the local police, NW Associations (where applicable), the local authority and other relevant agencies.

Other members

It is important that one person is not left with all of the work. There are a number of tasks that can be carried out by the co-ordinator or by other members once the scheme is up and running:

Please remember, it’s YOUR Neighbourhood Watch and YOUR community. YOU will know best what needs to be done.

Supplying individual households with stickers for doors and windows as well as relevant support materials

Assisting police and other relevant agencies in promoting public reassurance and community safety/crime prevention initiatives

Circulating information and advice in a number of different ways

Providing community intelligence to the coordinator or the police, e.g. suspicious or criminal incidents

Keeping in touch with other members or nearby schemes

Looking out for vulnerable people in the community

Welcoming newcomers to the neighbourhood

Identifying local environmental problems and working with partners to resolve these

If the scheme has been running for a long time, perhaps it would be good to go back and have a look at why you have a Neighbourhood Watch and what you want to achieve. You can find some questions to help with this in the section on how your watch will work.